Juniors
In the dim and distant past youth coach, Phil Wood, played in a highly successful junior side that swept the board in Scottish cricket, winning every age group competition of his day. Phil has now, as a result of great, personal dedication, taken three sides to the national finals this season and on Sunday our under 14 lads did the whole club proud by lifting the national title, defeating Grange and Clydesdale in thrilling matches at Freuchie.

The semi-final against the Edinburgh giants was as close as it gets; the teams each ended the twenty over contest on 136 for 7. Even a couple of, count-back overs failed to separate the sides. Good fortune eventually did fall on our young heroes when it was discovered that Aberdeenshire had the better score at the end of the seventeenth over!

In a match that close, several individual contributions were clearly vital. Grange batted first and found the bowling of Aayush Sinha formidable as he removed three Edinburgh batsmen for only nine runs. He was well supported by Ethan Shedbal and Nicol Martin. Nevertheless, the Grange total of was imposing.

And yet, as we now know, not too imposing!

Marcus Vila and Joseph Scotting together got us off to the best of starts and Aayush Sinha, a strong candidate for “Man of the Match” in this tie, carried on the chase promisingly. Others chipped in further down the order as the teams headed for a dramatic tie. Spare a thought at this point for the contribution of Oscar Vila, one of the youngest in the squad. Batting at the death, Oscar managed a vital innings of seven not out at a run a ball: a crucial contribution!

All eyes were suddenly on the scorers and official, as the numbers were crunched and checked to produce the result that put huge grins on Aberdeen faces.

The final awaited!

Clydesdale another giant club in the Scottish game batted first. Wickets from Aayush Sinha, Ethan Shedbal, Vikaash Saravanan and Nicol Martin combined to restrict the Glaswegians to 127 for 5, still a significant target.

Word had reached the Aberdeen coaches of a big, very pacy fast bowler, who had captured five wickets for just ten runs in only two overs in the other semi-final. Our lads were about to be tested! Aatish Venkatasen, the Clydesdale strike bowler, did prove to be very big and also an extremely fast bowler. Facing such a daunting challenge, our young players stood up and displayed supreme skill and courage as they progressed steadily towards their winning target. Once again, the opening partnership of Joseph Scotting and Marcus Vila provided the foundation for our batting success. Ethan Shedbal then batted well in the middle order and Nicol Martin stepped up at the climax of the match to score a not out twenty-eight to see this magnificent team over the line to become very worthy Scottish Champions!

Phil and all the lads, Aberdeenshire Cricket Club members could not be prouder of our sensational junior section!

1st XI
By comparison the first eleven victory this week was a lot calmer. To be honest, the present writer was very glad of that. Freuchie came to Mannofield with a decent recent record and were themselves not yet out of the championship race. Injuries having weakened the Aberdeenshire line-up, this match could have been a challenge. As it turned out Freuchie had a much-depleted team and could do little to prevent us mounting an impressive total. Our professional, Harsha Vithana and our overseas player, Cameron Brown led the onslaught; Cammy may well have used up a huge chunk of his luck by repeatedly throwing up straightforward chances to inept Freuchie fielders. Harsha ended on 103 not out, an excellent professional innings, while Cameron eventually fell to a catch in the deep for a rapid, well-struck 75.

Aberdeenshire’s total of 290 - 4 would ultimately prove far too much for a hapless Freuchie batting line-up. The Fifers could only muster a total of 86 runs. Their later batsmen had no answer to the spinning skills of Calum Howard, who reminds me regularly that he is bowling very well this season.
In fairness, each of the bowlers played their part in routing the Freuchie batsmen. It was particularly pleasing to see young Izzy Bandara bowling with good line and rhythm to capture three wickets; he showed again in this match that he has the potential to be a very successful bowler for our club in the future.

So, Captain Gamblen, you lead your players to Lochside to meet Strathmore, a team currently down on its luck. Last season this fixture ended up badly for us, but I fancy you will also be undefeated when meet Stoneywood/Dyce next week.

2nd XI
Our seconds suffered a defeat at the hands of Cults in a match restricted by the weather. When rain does cut the length of a match, there is a feeling that the chasing side is more in control of the situation; most sides in this league have significantly stronger batsmen at the head of their order and are likely therefore, to perform a lot better in the early overs of an innings, when few are able to sustain this success over the entire innings. This appeared to be the case on Saturday as Cults notched up 117/4 in 25 overs, chasing at total of 195. Cricketers know these rules and live with them as it can easily work both for or against a side. On this occasion, we lost out.

Once again, Marcus Vila anchored our innings with a skillful, steady half-century. Has a thirteen years old bat ever scored a Grade1 fifty, let alone two in succession? Others chipped in with scores in the twenties and a respectable total was achieved. To their credit, Cults scored at the right tempo for the situation and ran out fair winners on the day.

This set-back makes a title chase more difficult, though we remain just in touch with the leaders. On Saturday, we host Grammar F.Ps. in a match that can surely be won!

3rd XI
Countessewells’ second pitch is one that has witnessed many big scores in its life-time; the downhill boundary is always very reachable and most batsmen find the pitch to their liking. Thus, when our thirds notched up the score of 285-7, this proved difficult to defend. Lockesh Saraswat with 59 runs successfully opened our innings with his younger son, Arnav, who scored 27 runs. Together they built a 71 runs partnership to give our lads a bright start. Thereafter, veteran southpaw, John Dickinson led the charge, scoring 80 runs at a brisk rate; Dicko was well supported by Muteeb Furdous and Aarush Sharma and the large total was posted. The Gordonians reply was built around a fourth wicket partnership of 168 runs by Shravran Aravind 114 runs and Riyansh Kirodian 68 runs. Despite a very effective spell of bowling by Adi Nagdeve, those splendid efforts were enough to give the home side an edge and they ran out winners of a good match.

This week our thirds are likely to include a number of the triumphant u14s as the take on Stoneywood/Dyce at the lovely Duthie Park. These two sides lie together just in the upper half of the table and a close encounter is expected.